Pseudogap Phase Of Cuprates Research Articles

Fermi liquid-like behaviour of cuprates in the pseudogap phase simulated via T-dependent electron-boson spectral density

We investigated the temperature- and frequency-dependent optical scattering rates in the pseudogap phase of cuprates using model pseudogap and electron-boson spectral density (EBSD) functions. We obtained the scattering rates at various temperatures below and above a given pseudogap temperature using a generalized Allen’s (or Sharapov’s) formula, which has been used to analyse the measured optical spectra of correlated electron systems with a non-constant density of states at finite temperatures. The pseudogap and EBSD functions should be temperature dependent to simulate the Fermi liquid-like behaviour of underdoped cuprate systems observed in optical studies. Therefore, the observed Fermi liquid-like behaviour can be understood by considering the combined contribution from the T-dependent EBSD function and the T-dependent pseudogap. We also obtained the optical conductivity spectra from the optical scattering rates and analyzed them to investigate intriguing electronic properties. We expect that our results will aid in understanding the Fermi liquid-like optical response in the pseudogap phase and in revealing the microscopic pairing mechanism for superconductivity in cuprates.

Thermal Hall effect in the pseudogap phase of cuprates

The conjecture made recently by the group at Sherbrooke, that their observed anomalous thermal Hall effect in the pseudo-gap phase in the cuprates is due to phonons, is supported on the basis of an earlier result that the observed loop-current order in this phase must induce lattice distortions which are linear in the order parameter and an applied magnetic field. The lowered symmetry of the crystal depends on the direction of the field. A consequence is that the elastic constants change proportional to the field and are shown to induce axial thermal transport with the same symmetries as the Lorentz force enforces for the normal electronic Hall effect. Direct measurements of elastic constants in a magnetic field are suggested to verify the quantitative aspects of the results.

Parton theory of angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy spectra in antiferromagnetic Mott insulators

Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) has revealed peculiar properties of mobile dopants in correlated anti-ferromagnets (AFMs). But describing them theoretically, even in simplified toy models, remains a challenge. Here we study ARPES spectra of a single mobile hole in the $t-J$ model. Recent progress in the microscopic description of mobile dopants allows us to use a geometric decoupling of spin and charge fluctuations at strong couplings, from which we conjecture a one-to-one relation of the one-dopant spectral function and the spectrum of a constituting spinon in the \emph{undoped} parent AFM. We thoroughly test this hypothesis for a single hole doped into a 2D Heisenberg AFM by comparing our semi-analytical predictions to previous quantum Monte Carlo results and our large-scale time-dependent matrix product state (td-MPS) calculations of the spectral function. Our conclusion is supported by a microscopic trial wavefuntion describing spinon-chargon bound states, which captures the momentum and $t/J$ dependence of the quasiparticle residue. Our conjecture suggests that ARPES measurements in the pseudogap phase of cuprates can directly reveal the Dirac-fermion nature of the constituting spinons. Specifically, we demonstrate that our trial wavefunction provides a microscopic explanation for the sudden drop of spectral weight around the nodal point associated with the formation of Fermi arcs, assuming that additional frustration suppresses long-range AFM ordering. We benchmark our results by studying the cross-over from two to one dimension, where spinons and chargons are confined and deconfined respectively.

Emergent charge order near the doping-induced Mott-insulating quantum phase transition in Sr3Ru2O7

Search for novel electronically ordered states of matter emerging near quantum phase transitions is an intriguing frontier of condensed matter physics. In ruthenates, the interplay between Coulomb correlations among the 4d electronic states and their spin-orbit interactions, lead to complex forms of electronic phenomena. Here we investigate the double layered Sr3(Ru1−xMnx)2O7 and its doping-induced quantum phase transition from a metal to an antiferromagnetic Mott insulator. Using spectroscopic imaging with the scanning tunneling microscope, we visualize the evolution of the electronic states in real- and momentum-space. We find a partial-gap at the Fermi energy that develops with doping to form a weak Mott insulating state. Near the quantum phase transition, we discover a spatial electronic reorganization into a commensurate checkerboard charge order. These findings bear a resemblance to the universal charge order in the pseudogap phase of cuprates and demonstrate the ubiquity of charge order that emanates from doped Mott insulators.

Angle-resolved photoemission with circularly polarized light in the nodal mirror plane of underdoped Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ superconductor

Unraveling the nature of pseudogap phase in high-temperature superconductors holds the key to understanding their superconducting mechanisms and potentially broadening their applications via enhancement of their superconducting transition temperatures. Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) experiments using circularly polarized light have been proposed to detect possible symmetry breaking state in the pseudogap phase of cuprates. The presence (absence) of an electronic order which breaks mirror symmetry of the crystal would in principle induce a finite (zero) circular dichroism in photoemission. Different orders breaking reflection symmetries about different mirror planes can also be distinguished by the momentum dependence of the measured circular dichroism. Here, we report ARPES experiment on an underdoped Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ (Bi2212) superconductor in the Γ (0,0)-Y (π,π) nodal mirror plane using circularly polarized light. No circular dichroism is observed on the level of ∼2% at low temperature, which places a clear constraint on the forms of possible symmetry breaking orders in this sample. Meanwhile, we find that the geometric dichroism remains substantial very close to its perfect extinction such that a very small sample angular offset is sufficient to induce a sizeable dichroic signal. It highlights the importance to establish a perfect extinction of geometric dichroism as a prerequisite for the identification of any intrinsic circular dichroism in this material.

Giant phonon anomaly associated with superconducting fluctuations in the pseudogap phase of cuprates

The pseudogap in underdoped cuprates leads to significant changes in the electronic structure, and was later found to be accompanied by anomalous fluctuations of superconductivity and certain lattice phonons. Here we propose that the Fermi surface breakup due to the pseudogap, leads to a breakup of the pairing order into two weakly coupled sub-band amplitudes, and a concomitant low energy Leggett mode due to phase fluctuations between them. This increases the temperature range of superconducting fluctuations containing an overdamped Leggett mode. In this range inter-sub-band phonons show strong damping due to resonant scattering into an intermediate state with a pair of overdamped Leggett modes. In the ordered state, the Leggett mode develops a finite energy, changing the anomalous phonon damping into an anomaly in the dispersion. This proposal explains the intrinsic connection between the anomalous pseudogap phase, enhanced superconducting fluctuations and giant anomalies in the phonon spectra.

Density wave instabilities in a correlated two-dimensional metal

Motivated by recent experimental evidence of charge order in the pseudogap phase of cuprates, we perform a variational analysis of charge-neutral, spin-singlet ordering in metals on the square lattice, using a wavefunction with double occupancy projected out. We examine ordering with and without time-reversal symmetry, with arbitrary wavevector and tunable form factor. Depending on parameters, we find d-wave bond density wave ordering with wavevector either parallel to the lattice generators or diagonally oriented, or a ground state which carries a time reversal-breaking pattern of spontaneous currents.

Theory of fluctuating charge ordering in the pseudogap phase of cuprates via a preformed pair approach

We study the static and dynamic behavior of charge ordering within a $d$-wave pair pseudogap (pg) scenario. This is addressed using a density-density correlation function derived from the standard pg self-energy $\ensuremath{\Sigma}$ and compatible with the longitudinal and transverse sum rules. The broadening factor $\ensuremath{\gamma}$ in $\ensuremath{\Sigma}$ reflects the breaking of pairs into constituent fermions. We apply this form for $\ensuremath{\Sigma}$ (derived elsewhere for high fields) to demonstrate the existence of quantum oscillations in a non-Fermi liquid pg state. Our conclusion is that the pseudogap-induced pair breaking, via $\ensuremath{\gamma}$, allows the underlying fermiology to be revealed; $d$-wave (as distinct from $s$-wave) pairing in YBCO, with finite $\ensuremath{\omega}$ and $\ensuremath{\gamma}$ enables antinodal fluctuations, despite their competition in the static and superconducting limits.

X-ray natural dichroism and chiral order in underdoped cuprates

The origin of the Kerr rotation observed in the pseudogap phase of cuprates has been the subject of much speculation. Recently, it has been proposed that this rotation might be due to chiral charge order. Here, I investigate whether such order can be observed by x-ray natural circular dichroism (XNCD). Several types of charge order were considered, and they can give rise to an XNCD signal depending on the stacking of the order along the c-axis.

A crossover in the phase diagram of NaFe1−xCoxAs determined by electronic transport measurements

We report electronic transport measurements on single crystals of the NaFe1−xCoxAs system. We found that the cotangent of the Hall angle, cot θH, follows T4 for the parent compound with filamentary superconductivity and T2 for the heavily overdoped non-superconducting sample. However, it exhibits approximately T3-dependence in all the samples with bulk superconductivity, suggesting that this behavior is associated with bulk superconductivity in ferropnictides. A deviation develops below a characteristic temperature T* well above the structural and superconducting transitions, accompanied by a departure from power-law temperature dependence in resistivity. The doping dependence of T* resembles the crossover line of the pseudogap phase in cuprates.

Incoherent pair tunneling in the pseudogap phase of cuprates

Motivated by a recent experiment by Bergeal et al., we reconsider incoherent pair tunneling in a cuprate junction formed from an optimally doped superconducting lead and an underdoped normal metallic lead. We study the impact of the pseudogap on the pair tunneling by describing fermions in the underdoped lead with a model self-energy that has been developed to reproduce photoemission data. We find that the pseudogap causes an additional temperature dependent suppression of the pair contribution to the tunneling current. We discuss consistency with available experimental data and propose future experimental directions.

Pseudogap phase in cuprates: Oxygen orbital moments instead of circulating currents

Circulating current (CC) loops within the cuprate unit cell are proposed to play a key role in the physics of the pseudogap phase. However, main experimental observations motivated by this sophisticated proposal and seemingly supporting the CC model can be explained in frames of a simple and physically clear microscopic model. We argue that instead of a well-isolated Zhang-Rice (ZR) singlet $^1A_{1g}$ the ground state of the hole center [CuO$_4$]$^{5-}$ (cluster analog of Cu$^{3+}$ ion) in cuprates should be described by a complex $^1A_{1g}$-$^{1,3}B_{2g}$-$^{1,3}E_u$ multiplet, formed by a competition of conventional hybrid Cu 3d-O 2p $b_{1g}(\sigma)\propto d_{x^2 -y^2}$ state and {\it purely oxygen nonbonding} O 2p$\pi$ states with $a_{2g}(\pi)$ and $e_{ux,y}(\pi)$ symmetry. In contrast with inactive ZR singlet we arrive at several novel competing orbital and spin-orbital order parameters, e.g., Ising-like net orbital magnetic moment, orbital toroidal moment, intra-plaquette's staggered order of Ising-like oxygen orbital magnetic moments. As a most impressive validation of the non-ZR model we explain fascinating results of recent neutron scattering measurements that revealed novel type of magnetic ordering in pseudogap phase of several hole-doped cuprates.

Low-Frequency Magnetic Response in the Pseudogap Phase of Cuprate Perovskites

We calculate the magnetic susceptibility in the pseudogap phase of cuprates using the two-dimensional t-J model and the Mori projection operator technique. In this phase, the Fermi arcs lead to a quasi-elastic incommensurate magnetic response for low temperatures. The theory accounts for the reorientation of the susceptibility maxima from the axial to the diagonal direction occurring at small hole concentrations in La2−xSrxCuO4. A small cusp of the hole dispersion near the Fermi level, which is connected with the spin-polaron band, affords the growth of the maxima with decreasing frequency. As in the superconducting phase, the susceptibility maxima have an hourglass dispersion. The assumption of the phase separation into regions of superconducting and pseudogap phases in underdoped cuprates explains the lack of the superconducting gap in their susceptibility. The observed rapid change of widths of the susceptibility maxima with frequency is related to the contribution of the pseudogap phase. This contribution may also explain the strengthening of the quasi-elastic response by modest magnetic fields and by small impurity concentrations.

Spin-vortices and Spin-vortex-induced Loop Currents in the Pseudogap Phase of Cuprates

We explain several anomalous phenomena observed in the pseudogap phase of hole-doped cuprates based on the recently proposed spin-vortex superconductivity theory. In this theory, doped-holes become almost immobile small polarons, and spin-vortices are formed with those small polarons as their centers. A Hartree–Fock field for conduction electrons that is optimized for the interaction energy of local moments is derived; it contains a fictitious magnetic field arising from spin-vortices, and yields current carrying states. The obtained currents are loop currents around spin-vortices, i.e., the spin-vortex-induced loop currents (SVILCs), and a collection of them produces a macroscopic current. The SVILC explains (1) nonzero Kerr rotation in zero-magnetic field after exposed in a strong magnetic field; (2) the change of the sign of the Hall coefficient with temperature change; (3) the suppression of superconductivity in the x=1/8 static-stripe ordered sample; and (4) a large anomalous Nernst signal, including its sign-change with temperature change. We show that the hourglass-shaped magnetic excitation spectrum is the evidence for the existence of spin-vortices. We further argue that the “Fermi-arc” in the ARPES is a support for the presence of localized moments in the bulk; a disconnected arc-shaped Fermi surface is obtained by assuming an antiferromagnetic interaction between the localized moments in the bulk and itinerant electrons in the surface region.

SU(2) approach to the pseudogap phase of high-temperature superconductors: Electronic spectral functions

We use an SU(2) mean-field theory approach with input from variational wave functions of the $t\text{\ensuremath{-}}J$ model to study the electronic spectra in the pseudogap phase of cuprates. In our model, the intermediate-temperature state of underdoped cuprates is realized by classical fluctuations of the order parameter between the $d$-wave superconductor and the staggered-flux state. The spectral functions of the pure and the averaged states are computed and analyzed. Our model predicts a photoemission spectrum with an asymmetric gap structure interpolating between the superconducting gap centered at the Fermi energy and the asymmetric staggered-flux gap. This asymmetry of the gap changes sign at the points where the Fermi surface crosses the diagonal $(\ensuremath{\pi},0)\text{\ensuremath{-}}(0,\ensuremath{\pi})$.

Electronic phase separation transition as the origin of the superconductivity and pseudogapphase of cuprates

To deal with the physics of cuprate superconductivity we propose an electronic phaseseparation transition that segregates the holes into high and low density domains. Thecalculated grain boundary potential favors the development of intragrain superconductingamplitudes. The zero resistivity transition arises only when the intergrain Josephson couplingEJ is of the order of the thermal energy and phase locking takes place among thesuperconducting grains. We show that this approach explains the pseudogap andsuperconducting phases and it also reproduces some recent scanning tunneling microscopydata.

De Haas–van Alphen Oscillations in the Underdoped High-Temperature SuperconductorYBa2Cu3O6.5

The de Haas-van Alphen effect was observed in the underdoped cuprate YBa2Cu3O6.5 via a torque technique in pulsed magnetic fields up to 59 T. Above a field of approximately 30 T the magnetization exhibits clear quantum oscillations with a single frequency of 540 T and a cyclotron mass of 1.76 times the free electron mass, in excellent agreement with previously observed Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations. The oscillations obey the standard Lifshitz-Kosevich formula of Fermi-liquid theory. This thermodynamic observation of quantum oscillations confirms the existence of a well-defined, closed, and coherent, Fermi surface in the pseudogap phase of cuprates.

X-ray dichroism and the pseudogap phase of cuprates

A recent polarized x-ray absorption experiment on the high-temperature cuprate superconductor ${\mathrm{Bi}}_{2}{\mathrm{Sr}}_{2}\mathrm{Ca}{\mathrm{Cu}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{8+x}$ indicates the presence of broken parity symmetry below the temperature ${T}^{*}$, where a pseudogap appears in photoemission. We critically analyze the x-ray data and conclude that a parity-breaking signal of the kind suggested is unlikely based on the crystal structures reported in the literature. Possible other origins of the observed dichroism signal are discussed. We propose x-ray scattering experiments that can be done in order to determine whether such alternative interpretations are valid or not.

Magnetic characterization of the upper pseudogap phase in cuprates

It is proposed that the upper pseudogap phase (UPP) observed in the high-Tc cuprates correspond to the formation of spin singlet pairing under the bosonic resonating-valence-bond (RVB) description. We present a series of evidence in support of such a scenario based on the calculated magnetic properties including uniform spin susceptibility, spin-lattice and spin-echo relaxation rates, which consistently show that strong spin correlations start to develop upon entering the UPP, being enhanced around the momentum (\pi, \pi) while suppressed around (0, 0). The phase diagram in the parameter space of doping concentration, temperature, and external magnetic field, is obtained based on the the bosonic RVB theory. In particular, the competition between the Zeeman splitting and singlet pairing determines a simple relation between the "critical" magnetic field, H_{PG}, and characteristic temperature scale, T0, of the UPP. We also discuss the magnetic behavior in the lower pseudogap phase at a temperature Tv lower than T0, which is characterized by the formation of Cooper pair amplitude where the low-lying spin fluctuations get suppressed at both (0, 0) and (\pi, \pi). Properties of the UPP involving charge channels will be also briefly discussed.

In-plane conductivity anisotropy in the underdoped cuprates using the spin-charge gauge approach

Applying the recently developed spin-charge gauge theory for the pseudogap phase in cuprates, we propose a self-consistent explanation of several peculiar features of the far-infrared in-plane AC conductivity, including a broad peak as a function of frequency and significant anisotropy at low temperatures, along with a similar temperature-dependent in-plane anisotropy of DC conductivity in lightly doped cuprates. The anisotropy of the metal-insulator crossover scale is considered to be responsible for these phenomena. The obtained results are in good agreement with experiments. An explicit proposal is made to further check the theory.